Ramping up... I hope
As usual, we didn’t get as far as I had hoped, but progress was made and nobody was hurt. A couple of Logan’s friends showed up, plus we got rained out for a day, so we only got about three and a half days of work but we completed the second row. We’re still moving up the learning curve, and coping logs is a lot of work with a massive amount of sawdust. I didn’t take many pictures this week, plus we left in a hurry with rain moving in, so the images are a little thin this week.
At the end of last week, I scribed my first long groove. The above left picture shows the log with most of the chainsaw work done on the long groove. An angle grinder was used to finish to the scribe marks. We had never scribed a log before, so we really didn’t know how well it would fit. Logan was pleased — right photo.
The left photo above shows the first scribed log from the inside, a nice tight fit. The right photo shows a corner, which was okay but not perfect. The notch should be cut so it sits on the flat scarf of the log below, which it mostly does. The open gap on top is on purpose, so you make sure the log sits on the scarf, plus it makes scribing the next log up easier.
There’s a TON of chainsaw work, so much so that I even did some (although Logan did the lion’s share, which is a good thing.) Note my bent knees, arched back, and the chainsaw really was running. I could make a cut for, oh, 3 or 4 seconds before needing a break. Logan (right image) was much more casual, including the high-tech safety gear.
Logan wasn’t feeling too good for much of this week, but he did discover the pleasures of sleeping under the kitchen tarp. He toughed it out and seems to be feeling better now. Note that he keeps the chainsaw close — I don’t know if he actually cuddles with it when he sleeps and I’m not asking. His friends from Alabama, Cam and Chris, showed up and they quite enjoyed our camp.
Rain moved in so we high-tailed it off the mountain, and I forgot to take an end-of-the-week picture with the second round of logs up. The photo above shows the second round up for two walls, with progress on the other two. We also began prep work on a log for the third row. I spent an evening wandering the log pile and have some of the primary logs picked out for the 3rd round. Additionally, I’ve been marking the long logs we’ll need for higher on the cabin to make sure they are saved.
The week in review
We are three-quarters through August, the month I had planned for putting up the walls, and we have one-third of the walls up. As with the concrete work, we are slipping behind but still making progress. Will we be able to get the roof on? Hard to say, but I haven’t totally lost hope yet.
Scribing and coping logs is fairly slow, with lots of attention to detail, a bunch of chainsaw work, and plenty of grinding. When a log goes up without incident it’s truly satisfying; when it takes two or three tries to find the hang-up that messes up the fit, well, I suppose that makes the good ones all the more satisfying. Each wall on the second round of logs requires two logs (due to windows/doors), and we had two problem logs and four mostly easy ones.
If we get a full week, I think we can make a big dent in the walls because we’ve learned a bit and we’ve completed what should be the most difficult logs (until we get to the roof, anyway). So, the plan is for more log-work next week.